Thursday, January 10, 2008

Since unscrupulous groups like Americans for Balanced Energy choices are spending tens of thousands of dollars on advertisements to convince us that coal is the best thing since sliced bread (and not one of the dirtiest things on the planet), and since our state public service authority, Santee Cooper is spending tens of thousands of ratepayers’ dollars on their website, on media consultants, and other efforts to make us think that their “Pee Dee Energy Campus” has nothing to do with coal (when, in fact, it is nothing BUT a coal plant), we thought we’d post a couple slick coal advertisements too:

Here's another one from Kansas, where a coal plant was recently blocked by that state's equivalent of SC DHEC.

(Readers, create & send us your own coal ad's and we'll post 'em on this blog.)

6 comments:

I am undecided as to the costs / benefits of coal fired plants. I understand that climate change is an arguable issue, but as a person involved in accounting, how do you arrive at the amount of money that you say that Santee Cooper spends on advertising on their website for their proposed plant? What do you spend on your website?

Please advise as economics is an important and valid concern in this issue.

These guys aren't going to answer you, so let me tell you. THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW. They make stuff up all the time to serve their interests. I can tell you that they are certainly spending A LOT on this website. It is common knowledge among the "conservation community" that they have raised over $7,500,000 to fight Santee Cooper's coal plant. That money is used to fuel this site and pay for THEIR consultants.

Last time I checked www.blogger.com it was FREE to do a blog! Give it a try!

Here are my questions:

How much do Santee Cooper's scare-mongering quarter page ad's in SC papers cost? Their newly designed web pages? Their public opinion polling? Their hired media consultants? Their "economic impact" studies? Their alarmist "South Carolina is running out of energy" brochures? Their stickers, boxed lunches, & buses for public meetings? Their political lobbying? Their "anonymous" employees who are paid to read blogs that dare to speak out against their doings? An accountant might know. This is just a partial list of Santee Cooper's public relations expenditures in connection with this plant.

Welcome to CleanEnergySC.com!

Clean energy - efficiency and renewables - should be South Carolina's 1st fuel. With clean energy a larger part of the mix, our state can clean up, stay healthy, and create thousands of new jobs.

Santee Cooper, South Carolina's state public service authority, wants to build a 1320 MW coal plant on the banks of the Great Pee DeeRiver.

It's the wrong choice for our state. The effects of coal emissions are clear: sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides drive acid rain and smog; soot, or fine particles, are a precursor for asthma and heart attacks; mercury poisons wildlife and imperils human life, and carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming. A new coal plant puts our environment, health, and economy at risk.